The states driving most of Overstock's purchases via cryptocurrency aren't your typical tech havens.
The top five states for cryptocurrency purchases are Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, Wyoming and Hawaii have , the company told CNBC. Overstock got this statistic by looking at the percentage of overall revenue from each state that came from cryptocurrency purchases. (Absolute cryptocurrency revenue is highest in the most populous states --- California, New York, Texas, and Florida.)
Overstock began accepting its first cryptocurrency, bitcoin, in 2014. Today it allows payment from about 50 different cryptocurrencies. The company does about $300,000 worth of sales through cryptocurrency each month, said Overstock board member Jonathan Johnson.
"We saw from the 2013 banking crisis is Cyprus that bitcoin was a good store of value and could act as a currency," said Johnson. "We like the pro-freedom aspect of Bitcoin." (Johnson is also the president of Overstock's Medici Ventures division which invests in blockchain technology companies.)
People paying with cryptocurrency don't buy anything drastically different from other customers. However they do tend to be male and buy twice as much as those paying with regular currency, Johnson said.
Because cryptocurrency does not rely on banks or government-issued currency, it's popular among libertarians and others who distrust government intrusion and big institutions, Johnson said. It also may allow Overstock to expand in areas where many people don't have bank accounts, like Africa.